Spring Cleaning: Items to Sell Online Instead of the Yard Sale

This post is sponsored.

So you’ve done your spring cleaning, and now you’ve got some items you want to sell. A yard sale seems like the best option, right? Not necessarily. Depending on the item, you may want to choose to sell online on social media or even buy and sell sites to get the best price. Many sites can offer your item greater exposure and access to a larger audience of potential buyers. Before you decide to sell, take a look at these five items that you should consider selling online instead.

Books/Textbooks

There are plenty of used books and textbook buyback sites out there that will pay money for your old books. College textbooks have an especially active market, with many students opting to purchase used books or rent instead of brand new versions.

Brand new textbooks are incredibly expensive, but with buyback sites, the investment doesn’t have to be a total loss. Sites like Chegg and BooksRun offer money for used textbooks depending on the condition of the book and the demand.

The best place to sell your textbooks isn’t a yard sale or even the campus bookstore. You’ll be lucky to find a buyer at a yard sale, and campus book stores often purchase used books at insultingly low prices to maximize their own profits.

If you’re looking for a return on old textbooks, the best option is choosing an online vendor. You’ll simply provide the book’s details to the site and you’ll get a monetary offer. Once you accept the offer, you’ll print off the shipping label, ship the books, and receive your payment within about a week.

Phones

If you’ve got an old smartphone (or 3), selling at a yard sale may not get you the best price for that item. While smartphones are in high demand, the newer the model, the better. Not many people look for older smartphones unless it’s for parts or to have a spare on hand should they break their main phone.

Posting phones on social media marketplaces or sites like Craigslist allow you to reach a much wider audience than you would have at a yard sale. You’ll be able to set an asking price, provide details and photos about the phone, and share the post any number of times for maximum distribution.

Normally at a yard sale, prices are pretty negotiable, but with selling online you can include in your post whether or not you’re willing to budge on the price. Overall, selling online offers greater customization and distribution of your post so you can reach people by geographic location or specific keywords.

Furniture

If you want the best price for your used furniture, selling it online is probably your best bet. There are likely to be people online looking for your specific item by keyword, allowing for a more focused sale than posting a sign in your yard.

The more focused your efforts, the better chance you have of finding a buyer. That’s one of the greatest advantages of posting items on social media. The sharing and keyword tools allow a buyer to locate your sofa or loveseat with ease, and make an offer based on your asking price.

Collectibles

Whether you’re trying to sell collectible baseball cards, antiques, or other collectible items, you’ll have a much better chance of finding a serious buyer for your item online than you would with a yard sale.

Collectibles often fetch a hefty price, which a yard sale buyer may not be willing to pay. If you think your item is a collectible, the best thing you can do is perform some research on the item and get it professionally appraised before attempting to sell it.

There are websites specifically for collectibles and antiques where you can sell in an auction format, or you could utilize social media to find a buyer within your area code. Either way, the better way to go about selling collectibles is online.

Designer Clothing

Designer clothing can have decent resale value if you sell to the right buyer. As with any sale, finding that perfect buyer is half the battle, and with a yard sale, your options are limited to the people who show up. There’s no way to tailor the sale to better reach those perfect buyers.

Selling designer clothing online is the best way to maximize your profits from these valuable items. Sites like Tradesy allow users to buy and sell used designer clothing within a single platform, so when you make a listing, you’re sure to appeal to someone.

Designer clothes may prove too expensive an item for a simple yard sale anyway and could turn away buyers. Get the most money out of your designer clothing by choosing an online platform instead.

6. Old Cars

Not only can you get rid of an eyesore car that doesn’t work any more, but you can make cash for cars that don’t run. Plus, you can do the work online and get an offer on your vehicle, all from the comfort of your home. No reason to hang on to a car that does not work!

The Take-Away

Overall, selling online is the best choice for most items, as it allows you to tag posts with keywords, making the post much easier to find. Yard sales are generally limited to one geographic area, whereas online posts can appeal to anyone within a specific radius or city.

The customization that online selling allows is vital to finding the right buyer, which is half the battle when attempting to make a sale. If you’re selling any of the items listed above, choose an online platform instead of a yard sale to get the most out of those used products.

Oh, used to looooove selling books on half.com (til eBay killed it). I never would have thought of selling some of these things online – great tips! We have so many consignment options in our area, from women’s clothing and furniture (upscale consignment stores) to kids’ stuff (pop-up consignment sales as well as stores), I usually just offload things that way. So love your suggestions for still other ways to “pass it along”!

Welcome to A Nation of Moms! I'm Marysa, a busy mom of two girls, and our family lives in Upstate NY. I juggle work, the kid's activities, family life, running a Girl Scout Troop, and blogging! We love the great outdoors, vegetarian food, camping, travel, swimming, reading, and more.. plus sharing our experiences on the blog!